Best PlacesBaldwin City, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Baldwin City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Baldwin City ranks 10,362nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Baldwin City
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Baldwin City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Baldwin City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of towns
Where Baldwin City ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 32% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Baldwin City
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Baldwin City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,286, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Baldwin City's effective rate of 1.10%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Baldwin City
Baldwin City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Baldwin City.
Who works in Baldwin City, and how
Work in Baldwin City centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Baldwin City
Baldwin City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Baldwin City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Baldwin City, month by month
Baldwin City sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 70° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Baldwin City
Kansas City International sits about 44 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Baldwin City
Schools across Baldwin City average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunflower ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Baldwin Elementary Intermediate CenterB− · 44% proficient
- Wellsville ElemB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lawrence Southwest Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Wellsville Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Billy Mills Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Wellsville HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Baldwin High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Lawrence HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Baldwin City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Baldwin City measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Baldwin City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Baldwin City
Is Baldwin City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Baldwin City ranks 10,362nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, population health, and state infrastructure, and lowest on an overheated housing market and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Baldwin City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $335,151. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $79,286 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Baldwin City safe?
Yes, Baldwin City is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Baldwin City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Baldwin City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Baldwin City represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Baldwin City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Baldwin City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Baldwin City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Baldwin City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Baldwin City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Baldwin City detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.